A Call To Sports

From Israel to America, from Long Beach to Long Island, from Brookline to the Main Line, many an undergraduate spent their summer tucked away in some cramped cubicle, photocopying, filing, and fetching coffee. Somehow, amid the resume building and networking, they missed the summer; catching mere glimpses of its grandeur on their way to and from the workplace and, for the lucky few, through high-rise office windows. Certainly some students out there like this kind of thing, grinding, working to make their bones in the business world. However, I am just as certain that many others-myself included-would prefer to be outside, enjoying the warm summer air, well-worn Spalding in hand.

I yearn for those summer days of old. Those days where I would do as I pleased, filling my days with activities I wanted to pursue and my nights with more of the same. The usual activity of choice was basketball. No work, no deadlines, and no bosses; just jumpers, dribble drives, and backdoor lay-ups. The only "bosses" I answered to were hunger and fatigue, and even those I tried ignoring.

I yearn for those summer days of old. Days spent on cracked concrete courts, running from baseline to baseline, leaving a trail of sweat in my wake. Just thinking about it I can practically feel the heat of the summer day and hear the squeak of my black and white Nikes as I cross the free-throw line. These memories seem to be taunting me, as I sit in the cool air-conditioning of my downtown office-building, completing an assignment better suited for a twelve year old.

Fast forward to today, a pleasant fall day in Washington Heights. Sure, you have plenty of work on your plate: you have a history test tomorrow; you have a bible assignment due soon, maybe you even have a job interview to prepare for. Regardless, you are in the Max Stern Athletic Center shooting the ball around with a few friends, playing pick-up basketball, or maybe it's Tuesday or Wednesday and you are playing intramural ball. In any event, you are definitely having a good time and are releasing pent up stress, and, ultimately, the work waiting in your room will be completed in a timely fashion.

Whether or not you realize it, college may be your last opportunity to play sports whenever you feel the urge or need to. It may sound absurd, but it very well could be true. The average proximity to the gym in Yeshiva University is a block, at most. Good luck finding a house or apartment that close to a gym. And let's not forget the schedule. Yeshiva provides you with breaks in the day or night to do as you please; whether or not you take advantage of those is up to you. However, work is not like that. Remember your packed schedule this past summer? Your years will soon be like your recent summers, full of monotonous workdays that keep you busy, leaving you too tired to visit the gym at night.

Freshmen, sophomores, juniors, seniors, and anyone else listening, heed my advice. Enjoy your time in the Max Stern Athletic Center when you can and while you can. Trust me, it is a luxury we take for granted. It is a luxury you will surely miss when you're gone.